Time has indeed flown. I have not written anything since August of this year. Busy times, tiredness, and turmoil in my inner being are the contributing factors to this gap in writing. I also stepped into the teaching role of the LifeGroup I am part of. Our leader was facing some health issues that needed to be addressed to help promote his healing. Therefore, he asked me if I could teach while he did what he needed to do to aid the progress of the health issues he faces daily. I was honored to do it and thoroughly enjoyed it. Full disclosure is in order here. Today is November 20. However, I started this journal entry on October 29. The reasons for this are the same as those given above (i.e., "Busy times, tiredness, and turmoil in my inner being").
Worship in Word and Witness:
As
you read my introduction to Psalm 32, please be patient. The beginning may be a
little dry for those who aren't interested in the words or thoughts of scholars
who debate the meaning of words or what type of genre a psalm can be classified
as. However, I promise that I was able to dig out some meaningful applications
that were buried under the layer of scholarly mulch that overlays the rich soil
from which these truths grow. Those truths we all know but often forget. It is
my prayer that you (and I) will be reminded of these basic truths so necessary
for growth.
Introduction:
Commentators wrestle over what category to classify
this psalm. Is it a wisdom psalm, or is it a thanksgiving psalm?
The early church named it as one of their penitential psalms.
Here is what one commentator says to alleviate the dilemma.
It is probable that the psalm should be interpreted as a literary composition,
in which a basic thanksgiving psalm has been given literary adaptation
according to the wisdom tradition...
Craigie, P. C. (2004). Psalms 1–50 (2nd ed., Vol. 19, p. 265).
Nelson Reference & Electronic.
Well, I don’t know about all this. Did David
write with these things in mind? Or did he compose a psalm that another or
others adapted into a form that met specific criteria they wanted to emphasize?
How about letting David be David instead? Surely God had gifted him with a poetic spirit. When
I write poetry, I know it’s because a thought, mood, or event is moving me. Why not David? As I write, the poem sometimes takes on a form of its own
as I see patterns emerge or my mind is stimulated by the words I write. When I
write, I have revelation as my foundation and illumination as a resource. David,
however, had the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to move, guide, and infallibly write
his poetry recorded in God’s word. That is not to say David mindlessly wrote
down words as if in a trance. That is the stuff of the occult or the mind on
drugs.
Instead, God had gifted David with a mind and
a heart which David used to compose his songs. He wrote, moved by things he saw
in nature. Memories and experiences aided him as well. He often meditated on the
law and statutes of God. Suppose he planned to write a psalm with some aim in
mind— such as thanksgiving or praise or any of the categories mentioned above.
What if he, when writing such a psalm, was moved to incorporate a moral application or instruction amid
thanksgiving? In the end, the result was “Scripture ... breathed out by God and
profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in
righteousness (ESV).” (see 2 Tim 3:16) And while fully conscience as he
wrote, he was also was “carried along by the Holy Spirit [and] spoke from God
(LEB). (see 2 Peter 1:21)
Looking at the heading above Psalm 32, we see
that it is described as a “maskil of David.” Here is another
place where scholars have differing opinions on the word’s meaning. Some think
that maskil has the meaning of teaching or instruction. Thus they
classify this psalm as a didactic1 psalm. This
meaning seems to fit well with this psalm. However, some argue that this
doesn’t seem apt when it comes to other psalms that have maskil in their
titles2. Instead, they suggest that it has the meaning of meditation.
Others say maskil may mean understanding or skillful.
If it means skillful, most who take it this way believe it refers to the
music, not the message. However, some take it to mean both skillfully written
and played.
Smith’s bible dictionary refers to Ewald (a 19th-century
scholar) as saying this about the term maskil (or maschil):
MASCHIL
Ewald regards Ps 47:7 (Authorized Version, "sing ye praises
with understanding;" Heb. maschil) as the key to the meaning of maschil,
which in his opinion is a musical term denoting a melody requiring great skill
in its execution.
(from Smith's Bible Dictionary, PC Study Bible formatted
electronic database Copyright © 2003, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights
reserved.)
Whatever the word means, the most important
takeaway (to me) from the information above was not in Psalm 32’s heading. Surprisingly,
I found it in the quote from Smith’s Bible Dictionary, which contains an
excerpt from Psalm 47:7 in the King James Version. I almost missed this
takeaway. I was going to delete this portion about maskil because I didn’t
think it would lead to anything really edifying. However, when I read what Smith’s
Bible Dictionary said, I knew what I needed to say. I consulted Psalm 47:7 in
other versions, which do not translate the verse the same way the KJV
translators have. However, that did not matter to me. It was the way the KJV
translates it which directed my thoughts on how to make an application here
(not Ewald’s, as will become clear).
No matter the word's actual meaning, the
exhortation "sing ye praises with understanding" raises an important
question that has profound implications for when we come to worship. It is a
question we all need to ask ourselves each time we assemble together or worship
privately. Do I sing with understanding, or merely mouth memorized words
without thought to their meaning? Am I on autopilot instead of yielding my mind
and spirit to the Holy Spirit, who wings my thoughts toward the throne of God
in worship?
Let me make one final note. After I posited the questions above, some other thoughts came to me. No matter the exact meaning of maskil,
all the proposed definitions are important when it comes to reading,
teaching, and preaching God’s word. Should we not meditate
on the things we have read or heard? And as we do, should we not also seek to understand
its meaning and how it applies to our lives? And how often do we deny the
application as it pertains to ourselves and think it only applies to the lives
of others? Finally, should we not ask for the skill (wisdom
and power) to apply what we have read and heard? These are essential to any
study of God’s word. And they will surely yield manifold blessings in our lives
as well.
1 Blessed
is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
3 That
person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which
yields its fruit in season
and
whose leaf does not wither—
whatever
they do prospers.
Psam 1:1-3
NIV (2011)
1 1. Intended to instruct.
2. Morally instructive.
https://www.thefreedictionary.com/didactic
2 Maskil (מַשְׂכִּיל, maskil). Also
transliterated in English as Maschil. A word appearing in the superscription of
13 psalms (Pss 32; 42; 44; 45; 52–55; 74; 78; 88; 89; 142).
Worship
in Promise, Prayer, Poem, and Praise:
A Prayer to Study God's Word By
LORD,
Open my eyes to see great things concerning Thee!
Let Your
Holy Spirit,
Who breathed out Your inerrant and infallible Word,
Illumine my mind with wisdom and understanding.
Move me
to:
Obey You unreservedly,
Love You wholeheartedly,
Serve You passionately,
And find my sole satisfaction and joy in You.
TO THE
PRAISE OF YOUR GLORIOUS NAME,
AMEN!
V
SELAH
Come O' people of the Lord
Come to the Bible and be
blest
Drink deeply of His Word
Drink and find peace and
rest
SELAH
And when you read His Word
And pause in a heavenly
rest
You will find a truth to be
heard
You will be filled and be
blest
SELAH
V
Ancient
Words by Lynn
Deshazo
Holy Words
Long Preserved
For Our Walk In This World,
They Resound With God's Own Heart
Oh, Let The Ancient Words Impart.
Words Of
Life, Words Of Hope
Give Us Strength, Help Us Cope
In This World, Where Ever We Roam
Ancient Words Will Guide Us Home.
Ancient
Words Ever True
Changing Me, And Changing You.
We Have Come With Open Hearts
Oh Let The Ancient Words Impart.
Holy Words
Of Our Faith
Handed Down To This Age.
Came To Us Through Sacrifice
Oh Heed The Faithful Words Of Christ.
Holy Words
Long Preserved
For Our Walk In This World.
They Resound With God's Own Heart
Oh Let The Ancient Words Impart.
Ancient
Words Ever True
Changing Me, And Changing You.
We Have Come With Open Hearts
Oh Let The Ancient Words Impart.
We Have Come
With Open Hearts
Oh Let The Ancient Words Impart.
Lyrics: https://divinehymns.com/lyrics/ancient-words-holy-words-long-song-lyrics/
Video: https://youtu.be/ue6a3LERJW8
For
Further Thought and Study:
Here are the
lyrics to an older Hymn by Bernard Barton (1784-1849). It was a poem he wrote that was set to a tune written earlier by the
composer Johann Crüger (1598-1662). This hymn beautifully expresses what one's attitude should be toward God's word. And ends in a prayer that conveys the desire of the one who yearns to know and do God's will.
Lamp of our feet, whereby we trace
1 Lamp of
our feet, whereby we trace
Our path when wont to stray,
Stream from the fount of heavenly grace,
Brook by the traveller's way;
2 Bread of
our souls, whereon we feed,
True manna from on high,
Our guide and chart, wherein we read
Of realms beyond the sky;
3 Pillar of
fire through watches dark,
And radiant cloud by day,
When waves would whelm our tossing bark,
Our anchor and our stay;
4 Word of
the ever-living God,
Will of his glorious Son,
Without thee how could earth be trod,
Or Heaven itself be won?
5 Lord,
grant that we aright may learn
The wisdom it imparts,
And to its heavenly teaching turn
With simple, childlike hearts.
Source: https://hymnary.org/hymn/SBSA1986/654
